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Motherhood Across Cultureshttp://anthronow.com/press-watch/motherhood-across-cultures
http://anthronow.com/press-watch/motherhood-across-cultures#commentsMon, 13 May 2013 09:09:53 +0000http://anthronow.com/?p=2849The Toronto Star discusses the research of Jennifer Lansford, a professor of psychology and cultural anthropology at Duke University. Lansford conducts cross-cultural research on motherhood. “Universally, one of the key...]]>

The Toronto Star discusses the research of Jennifer Lansford, a professor of psychology and cultural anthropology at Duke University. Lansford conducts cross-cultural research on motherhood.

“Universally, one of the key tasks of motherhood is to make children feel loved, accepted and valued, and that’s regardless of cultural context…Mothers who are able to do this successfully will have children who are better adjusted,” she says.

“In the U.S., for example, a good mother is reactive… She responds to the child’s needs, feeding or changing him when he cries. In contrast, a good mother in Japan is proactive, attempting to anticipate the needs of her baby before he cries.”

“Lansford acknowledges that her research makes cultural generalizations, and cautions against drawing sweeping conclusions because there is significant variation within countries and cultures.”

New research explores the different ways mothers show they love their babies in countries around the world.

Marco Chown Oved, May 09 2013

]]>http://anthronow.com/press-watch/motherhood-across-cultures/feed0About Diaperless Babieshttp://anthronow.com/press-watch/about-diaperless-babies
http://anthronow.com/press-watch/about-diaperless-babies#commentsSat, 04 May 2013 11:18:05 +0000http://anthronow.com/?p=2833Writing for NPR, the anthropologist Barbara King observes: “some parents, mostly in one area of New York City, as far as I can tell, are raising their children from birth without diapers.” She speaks to Meredith Small, an...]]>

Writing for NPR, the anthropologist Barbara King observes: “some parents, mostly in one area of New York City, as far as I can tell, are raising their children from birth without diapers.” She speaks to Meredith Small, an anthropologist from Cornell University, who explains: "Only Westerns make such a big deal about toilet training," and adds that the lack of diaper use in many cultures does not reflect a lack of diapers: “Of course they could use any cloth, but often this is the much easier way.”

]]>http://anthronow.com/press-watch/about-diaperless-babies/feed2Breastfeeding in the Classroomhttp://anthronow.com/press-watch/breastfeeding-in-the-classroom
http://anthronow.com/press-watch/breastfeeding-in-the-classroom#commentsWed, 12 Sep 2012 08:22:30 +0000http://anthronow.com/?p=2425Adrienne Pine was in a jam. The assistant anthropology professor at American University was about to begin teaching “Sex, Gender & Culture,” but her baby daughter woke up in the morning with a fever. The single mother worried that...]]>

Adrienne Pine was in a jam. The assistant anthropology professor at American University was about to begin teaching “Sex, Gender & Culture,” but her baby daughter woke up in the morning with a fever. The single mother worried that she had no good child-care options.

So Pine brought her sick baby to class. The baby, in a blue onesie, crawled on the floor of the lecture hall during part of the 75-minute class two weeks ago, according to the professor’s account. The mother extracted a paper clip from the girl’s mouth at one point and shooed her away from an electrical outlet. A teaching assistant held the baby and rocked her at times, volunteering to help even though Pine stressed that she didn’t have to. When the baby grew restless, Pine breast-fed her while continuing her lecture in front of 40 students.

By Nick Anderson, Published: September 11

]]>http://anthronow.com/press-watch/breastfeeding-in-the-classroom/feed0Family Stuffhttp://anthronow.com/press-watch/family-stuff
http://anthronow.com/press-watch/family-stuff#commentsWed, 04 Jul 2012 09:33:32 +0000http://anthronow.com/?p=2177From 2001 to 2005, a team of social scientists studied 32 middle-class families in Los Angeles, a project documenting every wiggle of life at home. The study was generated by the U.C.L.A. Center on the Everyday Lives of Families to understand how...]]>

From 2001 to 2005, a team of social scientists studied 32 middle-class families in Los Angeles, a project documenting every wiggle of life at home. The study was generated by the U.C.L.A. Center on the Everyday Lives of Families to understand how people handled what anthropologists call material culture — what we call stuff. These were dual-earner households in a range of ethnic groups, neighborhoods, incomes and occupations, with at least two children between the ages of 7 and 12 — in other words, households smack in the weeds of family life.

]]>http://anthronow.com/press-watch/family-stuff/feed0Family Life in the USAhttp://anthronow.com/press-watch/family-life-in-the-usa
http://anthronow.com/press-watch/family-life-in-the-usa#commentsSun, 18 Mar 2012 23:14:03 +0000http://anthronow.com/?p=1853Elinor Ochs' latest research on child-rearing practices among middle class US families receives wide spread media attention: Anthropologist Elinor Ochs and her colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles have studied family life as far...]]>

Anthropologist Elinor Ochs and her colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles have studied family life as far away as Samoa and the Peruvian Amazon region, but for the last decade they have focused on a society closer to home: the American middle class.

Why do American children depend on their parents to do things for them that they are capable of doing for themselves? How do U.S. working parents’ views of “family time” affect their stress levels? These are just two of the questions that researchers at UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives of Families, or CELF, are trying to answer in their work.

By studying families at home—or, as the scientists say, “in vivo”—rather than in a lab, they hope to better grasp how families with two working parents balance child care, household duties and career, and how this balance affects their health and well-being.